Ronnie O’Sullivan swept aside by Chinese star Zhao Xintong in World Snooker Championship semis

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s hopes of an eighth World Snooker Championship crown were destroyed as Zhao Xintong thrashed him 17-7 with a session to spare.

Zhao took a stranglehold on the semi-final by winning all eight frames in a remarkable session on Friday morning – only the fourth whitewash of O’Sullivan’s long Crucible career.

It meant a 12-4 advantage for Zhao and O’Sullivan, out of sorts after having the tip and ferrule on his cue changed overnight, was unable to force a momentum shift when play resumed on Friday evening.

Zhao’s aggressive break-building piled the pressure on O’Sullivan and there was no stopping him becoming the second Chinese player to reach the World Championship final after Ding Junhui in 2016.

“Zhao played good, he deserved his victory,” O’Sullivan said. “I think he’s done brilliantly all tournament and all credit to Zhao. He played better than me.

“I’ve been awful for quite a while, those performances are in there, they’ve been coming out quite regularly recently.

“I’d like it to be [there], I’d just like to play alright and I just felt like I never gave him a game so that’s a bit disappointing.”

There was a lovely moment at the end as the two men shook hands and Zhao applauded his hero O’Sullivan.

In the other semi-final, Mark Williams fought back from a four-frame deficit against Judd Trump to level their semi-final at 8-8.

Trump resumed 5-3 ahead and set down an early marker to extend his lead and suggest that he could run away with the match.

A break of 70 made it 6-3 and Trump pinched the next frame with a 65 clearance after Williams, on a break of 57, missed a black off the spot.

Williams replied with breaks of 105 and 84 before edging a scrappier 13th frame to trail 7-6.

Trump took the next without any big breaks but Williams shaded a tense 15th frame, sewing it up on the pink.

And a consummate 96 clearance from the Welshman ensured parity before the pair resume play on Saturday morning.

Additional reporting from PA Media.